There was something special about Seton Hall's 2014 recruiting class. The six-man class of Khadeen Carrington, Ismael Sanogo, Desi Rodriguez, Angel Delgado, Michael Nzei and Isaiah Whitehead was highly regarded, built around a core of players who attended high school in greater New York City and New Jersey.

Whitehead left after his sophomore year for the NBA and the five student-athletes from that class who remain are on pace to usher in the best three-year stretch for the program in the last 25 years.

Under former Seton Hall coach P.J. Carlesimo, the Pirates won 76 games between the 1990-91 and 1992-93 seasons, which included three NCAA Tournament appearances.

Ranked No. 21 in the latest AP poll, Seton Hall (13-2) is on pace to go to its third consecutive NCAA Tournament after qualifying for the Big Dance in just three seasons between the end of Carlesimo's tenure in 1994 and the start of the 2014 season.

In each season since 2014, the Pirates' minutes continuity – a stat calculated by the advanced college basketball metrics website kenpom.com – has improved. The metric is calculated by taking each player on a team's current roster, using the minimum percentage of the team's total minutes that he played when comparing last season and the current season, and adding the total percentages for each player.

Seton Hall ranks ninth nationally in minutes continuity (75.9 percent) this season, thanks to its senior core of Rodriguez, Delgado, Carrington and Sanogo, as well as the signifcant roles of sophomore Myles Powell (who has played in 74.2 percent of the team's minutes this season) and redshirt junior Michael Nzei (46.8%). Kenpom.com has found that teams with more continuity typically perform better than teams with less continuity, but the teams with the most continuity nationally haven't fared as well in the postseason in recent seasons as one might expect.

In the last five seasons, the top 10 teams each season in minutes continuity have averaged 21.68 wins and 12 losses, combining for 16 out of a possible 50 NCAA Tournament bids. Those 16 teams exited the tournament once in the First Four, 10 times in the first round and three times in the second round. Wisconsin made the Sweet 16 last year when the Badgers had the most continuity of any team in the country (86.6 percent) and Kansas made the Elite Eight in 2016 when the Jayhawks were No. 10 nationally in minutes continuity.

It's worth noting that many of the teams examined play in conferences outside the power structure, meaning there are typically fewer available bids to the NCAA Tournament for teams in their position. But the teams with the most returning experience from a minutes standpoint have only made it to the second weekend of the tournament twice in the last five years.

Seton Hall could add its name to that list this season. Other candidates are USC (No. 4 in minutes continuity) and Wichita State (No. 7).

The Pirates are in the midst of a 14-year winless drought in the NCAA Tournament, last claiming a tournament victory in 2004. They could have the balance and experience to make it past the first round in this year's NCAA Tournament.

Seton Hall has four players who average double figures in points – Rodriguez (18.6 ppg), Powell (14.7 ppg), Carrington (14.1 ppg) and Delgado (13.7 ppg). Delgado is also a double-double machine with 11 double-doubles in his first 15 games this season. As of Jan. 5, he ranks in the top five nationally in offensive rebounding percentage.

Here is a look at the top 10 teams in minutes continuity from each of the past five seasons, courtesy of kenpom.com.

Year

School

Minutes Continuity Rank

Continuity Percentage

Record

NCAA Tournament Exit

2017

Wisconisn

1

86.6%

27-10

Sweet 16

2017

Saint Mary's

2

83.4%

29-5

Second round

2017

North Dakota

3

82.0%

22-10

First round

2017

Monmouth

4

81.5%

27-7

N/A

2017

UT Arlington

5

81.3%

27-9

N/A

2017

Georgia Southern

6

81.0%

18-15

N/A

2017

Belmont

7

78.2%

23-7

N/A

2017

Santa Clara

8

77.7%

17-16

N/A

2017

Dayton

9

77.3%

24-8

First round

2017

Holy Cross

10

77.2%

15-17

N/A

2016

Central Michigan

1

84.2%

17-16

N/A

2016

Valparaiso

2

82.6%

30-7

N/A

2016

Evansville

3

82.4%

25-9

N/A

2016

UAB

4

81.9%

26-7

N/A

2016

Furman

5

80.6%

19-16

N/A

2016

Cincinnati

6

80.4%

22-11

First round

2016

Tulsa

7

80.2%

20-12

First Four

2016

Louisiana Lafayette

8

78.5%

19-15

N/A

2016

James Madison

9

78.3%

21-11

N/A

2016

Kansas

10

76.9%

33-5

Elite Eight

2015

Wofford

1

87.7%

28-7

First round

2015

Sacramento State

2

86.3%

21-12

N/A

2015

Radford

3

86.1%

22-12

N/A

2015

St. Francis (PA)

4

85.4%

16-16

N/A

2015

Evansville

5

84.7%

24-12

N/A

2015

Lafayette

6

82.5%

20-13

First round

2015

Texas

7

79.7%

20-14

First round

2015

Toledo

8

78.7%

20-13

N/A

2015

Northern Arizona

9

78.3%

23-15

N/A

2015

Colorado

10

77.7%

16-18

N/A

2014

Boston University

1

87.6%

24-11

N/A

2014

Radford

2

85.8%

22-13

N/A

2014

North Dakota State

3

84.9%

26-7

Second round

2014

Elon

4

84.5%

18-14

N/A

2014

Indiana State

5

84.3%

23-11

N/A

2014

Iowa

6

82.9%

20-13

First round

2014

Boise State

7

82.8%

21-13

N/A

2014

Western Carolina

8

81.9%

19-15

N/A

2014

La Salle

9

80.9%

15-16

N/A

2014

Mississippi State

10

80.6%

14-19

N/A

2013

Ohio

1

91.8%

24-10

N/A

2013

Davidson

2

91.4%

26-8

First round

2013

Saint Joseph's

3

90.9%

18-14

N/A

2013

USC Upstate

4

89.5%

16-17

N/A

2013

Stetson

5

81.3%

15-16

N/A

2013

Bucknell

6

81.0%

28-6

First round

2013

South Dakota State

7

79.4%

25-10

First round

2013

Rutgers

8

78.1%

15-16

N/A

2013

San Diego

9

77.9%

16-18

N/A

2013

Creighton

10

77.7%

28-8

Second round

Andy Wittry has written for SI.com, Sporting News, the Indianapolis Star, Louisville Courier-Journal and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

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